I picked up "How To Be A Grown-Up" from the "new releases" section of my library. The title intrigued me, then I saw it was by the writing team that wrote "The Nanny Diaries," which I enjoyed yonks ago. Their distinctive voice is very evident in this book, a breezy novel about a woman coming to terms with her changing relationships, responsibilities, and sense of self.There's apparently a specific group of "chick lit" books that travel the same path: a highly educated (often at a private arts un...

Another entry in the comic/drama micro-trend centering on a 40-ish woman juggling life demands with modern workplace drama, often while lacking current jargon and tech familiarity and dealing with much younger coworkers. It's a niche with a ready, eager audience and one that has yet to find a smart, funny voice. This, unfortunately, leaves that need unsatisfied but not for lack of trying.What feels like it should be a breezy read is rather a downer, and the romantic attachments aren't handled wi...

First, I have to tell you how much I related to this book. I feel like I am the super un-cool version of Rory. Rory is a mom to two kids, she's married, she's working, and she's in a bit of a rut. When her husband, Blake, finds himself unemployed it throws the family into a spin. Well, mostly just Rory because as with so many moms, she's basically the one holding the ship together all of the time and while Blake is focusing on what this means for HIM, it's Rory and her practical mind wondering h...

I am a big fan of authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus' other books. So I was excited to see that they had a new book coming out.I would describe this book as Chick Lit. The narrator is 41 year old Rory. It was actually really nice to see a narrator this age, since most of the books that I read in this genre feature younger narrators.The book is divided into two parts with an epilogue.Rory is a stylist. She lives in New York City with her actor husband Blake and their two kids.I really liked...

Another riveting story about a woman surprised by the sudden realization that she is married to a man with the emotional capacity of a four year-old. In the end, I'm sure she forgives him. I'll never know because I'm tossing this crap out the window.

This cover looked fun and hey, it's summer so why not? NY Times best selling authors! A book about being a working mom! Ok.Just no. I hated almost everything about this book. The characters were all extremely unlikable, the careers over the top unrealistic, and just ew gross. The only thing that kept this from getting one star was that even though I hated it, I wanted to see how it ended. So I read the whole thing. And you know what? The ending sucked too.

This book should really be titled "How to be a Grown Up in NYC." The humorous part of "Nanny Diaries" was how ridiculous Mrs. X was. This time, we see Rory as a newly single parent navigating the same ridiculousness. I easily related to the family/mom parts: kids getting sick, kids getting messy, kids getting upset... But I couldn't relate at all to the outlandishness of Rory's job. In that aspect, this book was kind of annoying. I just wanted to shout, "You are intentionally involving yourself

Surprisingly, this was super cute.I've never read a book from either author, so I didn't exactly have any expectations going into this novel. However, lately when I've been starting adult novels, the first few pages are always dull and I have to force myself through them. Rory's life is pretty darn good. At least, for the most part. She's a forty-something wife to a washed-up actor, Blake, a mother to two darling children, Wynn and Maya, and a stylist from grand ol NYC. When her husband, Blake...

Remember when you had the posters on your wall of that 'teen heart throb'? What if you married him? Might not be all hearts and roses. That's what our heroine discovers, the hard way. Now, she has to grow up, and fast. Good book. Set in NYC, which was cool.

What a fun read! Humorous but heartfelt with great characters.

Review first published here (with a meatball recipe... it's relevant!): https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.wo...Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are responsible for creating the one chick-lit character that I can still remember more than ten years after ‘meeting’ him. That character was Harvard Hottie, the romantic interest in The Nanny Diaries. I’d be hard pressed to name characters from any other book I read in 2002 so why did Harvard Hottie stay in my mind? Perhaps because my friends and I ha...

Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...** I received an advanced readers copy from Atria Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! **I thought that this was a cute story about a woman starting over and her struggles to make things work. Everything from being a single parent to understanding the lingo and workings of a company and employers that are almost half her age.There were a few things that stopped me from loving the book and giving i...

I really wanted to love this book because I loved the Nanny Diaries, but alas... I enjoyed it but I didn't love it.

Rory McGovern is a part time freelance stylist, who lives in New York with her actor husband and two young children, but with her husband's star fading and residuals dwindling, Rory is forced to find full time work. Just as she lands a position with a start up webzine run by Millennials, her husband announces he needs some space, and Rory is suddenly the only grown-up at work and home.Rory often made me shake my head, both in empathy and disbelief. I could relate to the chaos of parenting, less

I’ve read several of these two magnificent authors’ books before and loved each of those books as though they were an appendage. As conceited as this may sound, I just have to say this: I think these two women write books just for me. It’s like they instinctively understand what it is that makes me tick and what my reading preferences are. They create characters and real-life situations that are so relatable it sometimes hurt, while it can also make you laugh. Their writing, for me, is the same

“How to Be A Grown Up” is another book in the lately popular genre of “normal family breaks apart and woman has to scramble to create her own identity”.When Blake, the handsome movie star, leaves Rory with their two young children, she is at a loss for what to do. She is only a freelance designer for magazine pieces, with not enough work to keep her family afloat. When an opportunity appears, she snatches it. Rory is thrown into the world of twenty-somethings, strange slang, and ideas that she s...

I gave this two stars not because I didn't enjoy it, but because the writing at times bothered me. Definitely a classic chick-lit/beach read sort of book if you aren't looking to read something that will be a ton of commitment. I really liked Rory, but she was pretty much the ONLY fleshed out character in the entire book. There were just so many cardboard and static characters! Any time one of Rory's two friends were in a scene I never knew who they were because personality-wise they were pretty...

A funny easy read for the beach.

I haven’t really liked one of their books since The Nanny Diaries, but I was willing to give this latest addition a fair chance. Since the heroine of this novel was closer to my age with kids, I thought I would be able to relate. What I loved: Rory’s two best friends are great characters – Claire and Jessica who provide the wisdom and helping hands when Rory hits some rough patches. I also really liked how evil and stupid the two tech geniuses (Taylor and Kimmie) were. If real millennials are an...

How to Be a Grownup wasn't awful...it just also wasn't that great.For starters, I love the idea of having a character married to a child star/heart throb. however, while that fact should have played a much larger role in the basic story, it really only came up when it was convenient. and also, Rory's admitted obsession with Blake as a child/teen/human being made it seem incredibly unlikely that she would have ever formed a true enough relationship with him that they also got MARRIED one day. And...